Ukraine: Economy is falling, National Bank has started devaluation of UAH

The National Bank of Ukraine on Tuesday, March 10, set the official exchange rate of UAH to the US dollar at 24.92 UAH, the correspondent news agency reports. According to the official exchange rate, the UAH after two days of growth in the last days of the previous working week fell to the dollar by 18 kopeks. The official exchange rate of UAH to Euro on Tuesday is set at UAH 28.23/Euro. At the same time, the real rate in exchanges today differs significantly from the official rate. In Kiev, the value of the US dollar soared to almost UAH 26 per dollar, the cost of the euro to UAH 29. The situation is similar in other major cities of the country. Political scientist Dmitry Korneychuk states that, in fact, the National Bank has started devaluation of the UAH. First, in order to compensate the oligarchs in UAH equivalent for the decline in exports Second, as the economy is falling, the budget will be filled only by increasing tax revenues from imports, which will become even more expensive for Ukrainians due to the devaluation of UAH, the expert notes. The news agency reminds that at the beginning of last year the exchange rate of UAH was at the level of UAH 28 29 per dollar, but during the year it strengthened to the level of UAH 23 24. It should be noted that today it became known about the sharp fall in the value of GDP-barrants and Eurobonds of Ukraine recorded the day before. According to official data, Ukraine's real GDP fell by 0.5% in January for the first time since 2016.